Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill once said, "All politics is local." That may have been true in Tip O'Neill's day, but some elections are decisively on national issues  and the Congressional elections this year are overwhelmingly national, just as the elections of 1860 were dominated by one national issue, namely slavery.

In 1860, some abolitionists split the anti-slavery vote by running their own candidate  who had no chance of winning  instead of supporting Abraham Lincoln, who was not pure enough for some abolitionists. Lincoln got just 40 percent of the vote, though that turned out to be enough to win in a crowded field.

But what a gamble with the fate of millions of human beings held as slaves! And for what? Symbolic political purity?

This year as well, there are third-party candidates complicating elections that can decide the fate of this nation for years to come. No candidate that irresponsible deserves any vote. With all the cross-currents of political controversies raging today, what is the overriding national issue that makes this year's Congressional elections so crucial?

That issue is whether, despite all the lawless edicts of President Obama, threatening one-man rule, we can still salvage enough of the Constitution to remain a free, democratic nation.

Barack Obama will be on his way out in two years but, if he can appoint enough federal judges who share his contempt for the Constitution's limits on federal government power in general, and presidential powers in particular, then the United States of America can continue on the path to becoming another banana republic, even after Obama has left the White House.

It’s not the subject of his column but the local/national schism is now the primary problem in the courts.

Time after time we see cloistered federal judges overturning the will of millions of people. Naturally, the rulings are the usual liberal madness but the problem of usurping power and invalidating the ballot box exists regardless of the issue.

I'd say it's more of an administrative dictatorship, which the courts usually agree to. Both are a problem. Our lives are run by regulation, but when some laws are passed by popular vote that aren't completely PC, the judiciary is there to nullify them (gay marriage, voter ID).

I am so sick of the two party system, I think that there should be an option that is “None of the Above”. And if
Non of the Above” gets 33% or more both parties would have to toss out their candidates and pick new ones for a run off...

A large part of the problem is that we, the victims of this scam, meekly accept that the rulings of a branch of the federal government are valid in cases involving the limits of the powers of....the federal government. Decisions on limits of federal power should be made by the state judiciaries (maybe a panel made up of rotating members of state supreme courts or something like that).

11
posted on 10/13/2014 10:05:59 AM PDT
by Still Thinking
(Freedom is NOT a loophole!)

Yes. The legislative branch is primarily a dog & pony show for the masses.

A black swan event such as ebola outbreak in Central America causing a tsunami of diseased peasants would (will?) eliminate even the facade that the US is still a republic. We would have an acknowledged takeover by the administrative branch. i.e. declared or de facto martial law.

While the influx of diseased illegals we are seeing now is awful, an ebola caused wave would be like a “b” apocalypse movie. Beyond the imagination of the average low information American.

"I am so sick of the two party system....." Yes, the Kamikaze Conservative so despise RINO's that they are willing to chase 3rd party fantasies or attempt a perverse contentment by just sitting home and allowing liberals to win by default. All of their efforts have been counter productive.

You would do yourself and the rest of us a favor by waking up to reality and voting Republican. The ranks can be purged after we gain a solid majority. Without that majority, the next few Supreme Court justices will seal the fate of our country.

You would do yourself and the rest of us a favor by waking up to reality and voting Republican. The ranks can be purged after we gain a solid majority. Without that majority, the next few Supreme Court justices will seal the fate of our country.

Umm, I did vote for Romney, I had to use a clothespin on my nose, but I did...

Because I was in purple state of colorado, not that it did any damned good...

Well said and stick to your guns. These GOPe lovers always sing the same song and after 20 years it becomes a tiring tune. Their strategy will keep the Banana Republicans in power for another 20 years.

The GOPe and Democrats won’t be satisfied until they control all campaign money and have impoverished conservatives into silence. They have and will use every means possible to do that unless we overthrow that leadership now.

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